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The World and Everything in It is WORLD Radio's daily half-hour audio news magazine, produced Monday-Friday. Play our programs and segments online below, or subscribe to the podcast by clicking the iTunes icon or RSS icon in the right column.

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Sept. 2, 2013

The IRS, same-sex marriage, and taxes, a potentially lifesaving medical breakthrough, a look ahead in business

Today’s news and Legal Docket analysis on how the IRS will now treat same-sex couples’ tax returns and the 9th circuit on California’s controversial “conversion therapy” ban, plus: a report on a new medical technology that could save lives of those who suffer life-threatening cerebral blood clots, a look at the week ahead in business and the economy, and more

Program Segments

Monday news

Syria and the White House: President Obama’s surprise Saturday announcement that he’ll go to Congress before moving against Syria. Congressional critics welcomed the move by a White House known for aggressively bypassing the legislative branch, but others said the president can’t make up his mind.

Syria and the UN: For what it’s worth — and Washington says it’s not worth much — the United Nations is near completion of its probe into the Syrian chemical attacks.

Syria and Congress: The Senate isn’t the primary obstacle. It’s the House where the real battle will be fought. Several of the more liberal Democrats are promising to vote the resolution down, as are many tea-party Republicans. If they carry the day, it’s likely a major blow for the president and U.S. foreign policy clout

Syria and religious minorities: Syrian-American Christian communities are sounding the alarm about an intervention they fear will tilt their homeland in favor of Islamists with designs on wiping out the church.

Legal Docket: IRS on marriage, federal courts on “conversion therapy”

TW&E legal-affairs correspondent Mary Reichard on the legal ramifications of the Internal Revenue Service decision to accept “married” tax returns from same-sex couples even in states where such unions aren’t legally recognized, plus the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding California’s ban on licensed “conversion therapy” for teens struggling with same-sex attraction.

Medicine: Better brain surgery

TW&E science and technology correspondent Michael Cochrane on a new “steerable needle” that can reach safely areas of the brain neurosurgeons can’t, possibly increasing the survivability of often-fatal blood clots on the brain.